Al-Nusra terrorist group rejects Syrian cease fire

Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front terrorist group has rejected a truce agreed upon by world powers in Syria hours before it comes into effect, calling for more attacks in the war-torn country.

"Strengthen your resolve and intensify your strikes, and do not let their planes and great numbers (of troops) scare you," Nusra leader Abu Mohamad al-Golani said in an audio message aired on Orient News TV on Friday.

On Monday, the United States and Russia said the truce has been planned to take effect in the Arab country on February 27 midnight Damascus time. The Syrian government has accepted the terms on condition that military efforts against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and al-Nusra, which are not included in the ceasefire agreement, continue.

The Saudi-backed Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) also announced that it would temporarily adhere to the truce.

On Friday, members of the Syria Support Group, a 17-nation grouping comprising Moscow and Washington among others, which backs the realization of peace in Syria, are to meet in Geneva to work out further details of the ceasefire agreement.

The UN envoy will afterwards announce possible plans for the resumption of UN-backed peace talks for the resolution of the country’s five-year-long crisis.

SS